By ParaMhor

“Growing up, we were taught over and over again what steps to take in case of an approaching tornado. Listen for sirens, go to your basement or cellar, or a closet in the center of your house, duck and cover, wait it out. We had drills twice a year, every year, in school. We talked about it in class. We talked about it at home. The newscasters reminded us. We went to the basement. We practiced, practiced, practiced.

But we’d never— not once— discussed what to do after.” – Jennifer Brown, Torn Away

“You can't spend the rest of your life tiptoeing around to try and avert disaster. It won't work. You'll just end up missing the life you have.” – Kim Edwards

I first heard Hüsker Dü when a neighbour would graciously share Zen Arcade loud enough to shake the walls of a shared flat/dosshouse every morning for what seemed like months. It sparked an enduring love of this terrific band. RIP Grant Hart, here’s one for you.

… And you will know us by the trail of dead litter Monsoon with apocalyptic imagery, while Mos Def’s anger at the devastation caused by the flood and the inadequate response of those in power still burns brightly in the thundering Katrina Klap/Dollar Day.

Likewise, the Fiery Furnaces' fierce lament seems to link an outbreak of bubonic plague in New York to the (re)election of a guy totally unqualified for the job. In 2004. We Got Back The Plague:

“Early November/We got back the plague…”

Now, let’s take a breath. I’m now at an age where I know that I know nothing. At least half a dozen nominations seemed nailed-on A-listers when I first heard them. None made the final cut, except for Toots and the Maytals’ mighty Pressure Drop.

John and Beverley Martyn are long-time favourites round these parts. Stormbringer was made when they were both in their early 20s and still sounds as fresh as the day it was released. By the way Beck did a pretty nifty cover.

Not for the first time, Peter Gabriel and Robert Fripp come good in this reading of Here Comes The Flood. Certainly Brian Pern would struggle to match that.

“Drink up, dreamers, you're running dry.”

Kathryn Kluge & Kim Allen Kluge wrote Rain Falls Unceasingly On The Seafor the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s film Silence. An evocative piece leading to the final entry in this week’s playlist, Riders on the Storm by the Doors, marmite band if ever there was one. I like ‘em.

Thanks to you all for the nominations. This past week I’ve discovered loads of great music, enough to fill at least half a dozen playlists. Special thanks to leaveitallbehind – much to my surprise I really liked that Snow Patrol epic!

If any of you who haven’t previously taken the chair are thinking of throwing your hat in the ring – go for it. It’s not hard (I can do it) and is really enjoyable so long as you find the time. We rely on the good services of gurus to support the Landlord and the greater variety of voices here, the better.

Jon Spencer’s explosive solo to Marianne Faithfull’s gentle honesty, Bill Ryder-Jones love songs to music by the film director David Lynch, this week’s album roundup embraces a wealth of experimentation and styles

Word of the week: It's the infinitesimally small subatomic particle which forms matter, a type of curdled cheese from soured milk, is used in computer language and in sci-fi fiction names, but where in lyrics?

Word of the week: With an appropriately flamboyant sound and rhythm it’s a word best known for the title of Freddie Mercury’s epic Bohemian Queen song, and several major classical works, but where is it used in song lyrics?

Word of the week: It’s an adjective with a beautiful sound. It means the characteristics of our ape cousins, but of course sharing almost all the same DNA, it also means us. But where is simian in lyrics?

Word of the Week: It sizzles off the tongue, it’s the name of a great inventor, and after him, a unit of magnetic flux density, and it’s also a car, and in slang recreational drug, but where does it appear in song lyrics?

Word of the Week: It’s a word with a beautiful sound formed from the Latin word, umbra, for shade, is not merely an expanding accessory to shelter from the rain, also a general term of protection or a thing made of many parts

Word of the Week: It’s a famous Bjork album, but where does it come up in lyrics? The root of this word relates to the evening and its tolling bell, but also bats, Venus, a cocktail, and in slang – a kind, smart, cool girl

Word of the Week: It’s a slim, fast dog, the name of a car, a ship, a tank and a light aircraft, and also slang for recreational use of nitrous oxide from small metal containers, but where does it appear in song?

Word of the week: It’s an idealised location of magnificence and beauty with Chinese origins described in Coleridge’s poem, and a 1980 film starring Olivia Newton-John and song performed with ELO, but where else does it appear in lyrics?

Word of the week: Following on from zephyr last week, we work backwards to a colour term that can pertain to cheap books, a fish, a mussel, insect, a certificate for gold, and in urban slang, council workers wearing hi-vis jackets

Word of the week: Launching a new Song Bar series highlighting words or phrases used in lyrics for the oddness or musicality, let’s start with a z-word, and several examples including Madonna, Bill Callaghan, Frank Sinatra and Ian Dury

Song of the Day: Continuing a week of WW1 anniversary songs, in an unusually tender song from the heavy rock band, it’s a tragic first-person narration of the Battle of the Somme where 19,000 British soldiers were killed before noon

Song of the Day: Next in a week of songs dedicated to the First World War Armistice centenary, a deeply sad and vivid song by Ray Davies about the fleeting life of a young soldier killed in 1916 from the 1969 album, Arthur

Song of the Day: Continuing on the First World War Armistice Day centenary, a trio of some of the finest songs about war from the British singer and composer from her acclaimed 2011 album Let England Shake

Song of the Day: Today’s date, 7 November, is significant in all sorts of ways - elections, revolutions, births, deaths, but it’s the day in 1908 when two of America’s most famous outlaws were reportedly killed on the run in Bolivia

Song of the Day: In the wake of the most vital mid-term US elections in a generation, the 1972 rock song that is often wheeled out on these occasions, but less known is that it is a reworking of an earlier song, Reflected